Scientists have reportedly measured the highest level of radiation yet inside a damaged Fukushima reactor.
It's been nearly six years since a tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on the northeast coast of Japan, causing meltdowns of three nuclear reactors.
According to a report by The Japan Times, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco,) the owner of the power plant that's leading the efforts to decommission the radioactive site, used a camera on a telescopic arm to look inside reactor 2 last week.
They found that the material inside the pressure vessel -- "the metal capsule used to hold the nuclear material within the containment unit," according to Smithsonian Magazine -- had melted through the bottom and created a three-foot hole.
According to the report, " the radiation level inside the containment vessel of reactor 2 the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown."
A person could die from even brief exposure if exposed to levels that high.
However, after local media hysteria swirled, Snopes investigated to find that though the radiation levels were at its highest inside, Tepco ensured that the radiation levels did not change outside the unit.
"We estimated radiation levels at certain points inside the Unit 2 Primary Containment Vessel.... The level of radiation discovered was higher than expected (the previous highest measurement was 73 Sv/h,) but we need further investigations to find out why the radiation got this high," Tepco told Snopes. "There has been no change to radiation levels outside the PCV. Extra precautions have been taken to prevent leaks of radiation during the investigation... the wall is tightly shielded, and the work area is pressurized."
Though this is good news in that the radiation is still contained inside the vessel, it makes cleanup from the disaster a lot harder.

It's been nearly six years since a tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on the northeast coast of Japan, causing meltdowns of three nuclear reactors.

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According to a report by The Japan Times, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco,) the owner of the power plant that's leading the efforts to decommission the radioactive site, used a camera on a telescopic arm to look inside reactor 2 last week.

According to the report, " the radiation level inside the containment vessel of reactor 2 the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown."

A person could die from even brief exposure if exposed to levels that high.

However, after local media hysteria swirled, Snopes investigated to find that though the radiation levels were at its highest inside, Tepco ensured that the radiation levels did not change outside the unit.

"We estimated radiation levels at certain points inside the Unit 2 Primary Containment Vessel.... The level of radiation discovered was higher than expected (the previous highest measurement was 73 Sv/h,) but we need further investigations to find out why the radiation got this high," Tepco told Snopes. "There has been no change to radiation levels outside the PCV. Extra precautions have been taken to prevent leaks of radiation during the investigation... the wall is tightly shielded, and the work area is pressurized."

Though this is good news in that the radiation is still contained inside the vessel, it makes cleanup from the disaster a lot harder.